The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-03-29
THE NAurcH GIRLS, DANCE.

A Performance Artistic and DecOrOus.
BicycIist stevens Description.
I had been wondering whether an OPP
portunity to see the famous dance would
occur during my tour through India, and
SO, when four or five of the prettiest of
these dusky damsels gathered around me,
smiled at me winsomely, Ogled me with
with their bewitching black eyes, smiled
again, smiled separately, smiled unanl-
mously, smiled all over their semi ma
hogany but nevertheless not unhandsOme
faces, and every time displaying sets of
pearly teeth, what could / do? What
could one have done but smile in return?
There is no language more eloquent or
more easily understood, under certain CIR
cuInstances, than the language of facial
expression. No verbal question or answer
was necessary. L interpreted the w1nsom,
smiles of the 'Nautch dancers right and
they interpreted very quickly the per-
mission to go ahead that revealed itself in
the smile they had forced from me.
Eight of the twelve were commonplace
girls of from IA to 10 and the other four
were quite handsome, as handsome goes
among the Hindoos Their arms were
bare of anything save bracelets and the
upper portion of the body was but scantily
all Hindoo females; but an ample skirt of
calico reached to the ankles. Rings were
on every toe and massive silver anklets,
with tiny bells attached, made music
when they walked or danced They
wore a profusion of bracelets, necklaces
of rubies, head ornaments, ear rings and
pendants and a massive gold or brass
ring in the left nostriI. The nOstril was
relieved of its burden by string that de
scended from head ornament and took
up the weight.
The Nautch girls arranged themselves
into half circle, their scarlet costumes
forming a bright crescent, terminating at
either end in a mass of spectators, whose
half naked bodies, varying In color from
pale olive to mahogany, were arrayed in
costumes scarcely less snowy than the
dancers. The chaperone tom-toms an
appropriate Nautch accompaniment on a
drum with his fingers, and four pretty
girls advance from the half circle, and
favoring me with a quartette of killing
smiles and a quartette of coquettish
glances from their bright dark eyes, they
commence to dance. An idea seems to
prevail in occidental minds that the In
dian Nautch dance is a very naughty
thing, but nothing is further from the
truth. OF course it can be made naugh-
ty, and no doubt often is, but then so
can many another form of innocent
amusement. The proper Nautch dance
is a decorous and artistic performance
when properly danced; the graceful mo-
tions and elegant proportions Of the hui
man form, as revealed by 1.-the and grace
full dancers, are to be reviewed with an
eye as purely artistic and critical as a
Venus or other production of the sculp-
tors studio. Only the British matron''
would consider Nautch dance in any
degree indecorous.
The four dancers take the hem of their
red garment between the thumb and
finger of the right hand, spreading its
ample folds into the figure of an open
fan by bringing the outstretched arm al
most on level with the shoulder. A
mantle of transparent muslin, fringed
with silver spangles, is worn about the
head and shoulders in the same indescrib-
ably graceful manner as the mantilla of
the Spanish senorita. Raising a portion
of this aloft IN the left hand and keeping
the ''fan" intact with the right the dane
ers twirl around and change positions
with each other, their supple figures
meanwhile assuming a variety of grace
1ul motlonS ana pastures from Tune TO
time. Now they initiate the spiral move
ments of the serpent, climbing around
and upward on an imaginary pole; again
they assume a charming posture, their
dusky countenances half hidden in SEEM
ing coquetry behind the muslin mantle,
the large red fan waved gently to and
fro, the feet unmoving, but the undulat-
ing motions of the body and the trem-
bling of the limbs sufhcing to jingle the
tiny ankle bells.